218: Chapter 218: You've passed university, now you're promoted!

"Holy crap, so immortality is actually watching yourself slowly disappear?"

"The more I think about it, the more terrifying it gets. If you live for ten thousand years, you'd probably be afraid that you won't even recognize yourself in the end, right?"

"This is even scarier than just dying!"

"The Ship of Theseus..."

"A philosophical critical hit from ten thousand years in the future. By then, the continuity of my memory might have already vanished. Who would I even be?"

"..."

Evidently, these arguments had plunged the viewers into deep reflection on the philosophy of mind.

Current science in this world suggests that by the time a person reaches 120, memories of their life before age 10 are essentially deleted by the brain.

If that lifespan were multiplied by ten, then at 1,200 years old, all memories below the age of 100 would likely have vanished—not just become blurry, but completely gone!

To elaborate based on Jiang Zhe's argument regarding the [Continuity of Consciousness]—if a person's memory develops a break, is Xiao Ming still Xiao Ming?

For example: if 120-year-old Xiao Ming remembers everything from 100-year-old Xiao Ming, and 100-year-old Xiao Ming remembers everything from ages 50 to 100, and 50-year-old Xiao Ming remembers everything from ages 3 to 50—this is [Memory Continuity]; Xiao Ming remains Xiao Ming.

Once 120-year-old Xiao Ming's brain completely loses all memories from before age 10—the kind that can never be retrieved—then according to Jiang Zhe's argument, [the Xiao Ming at age 10 and below is dead; he no longer exists].

Replacing the subject in this case, if Xiao Ming lived to be 12,000 years old, the constant replacement of cells in his body and the rupture of his conscious continuity would take their toll.

For instance, if 12,000-year-old Xiao Ming forgets, or even completely loses, all memories of himself before age 1,000—then the true Xiao Ming died 11,000 years ago.

The first immortal 'Xiao Ming (Me)' only lived for 1,000 years; the Xiao Ming who lived from 1,000 to 12,000 years old is no longer the true Xiao Ming from age 1,000, but rather someone very similar to him living in his stead!

On the video screen.

Professor Zhou was completely stunned.

As a dual professor of biology and ecology, he had studied cellular aging and genetic variation, and had also considered the social impacts of longevity.

But he had never, like Jiang Zhe, linked the concepts of time erosion, information entropy increase, continuity of identity, and self-perception together to construct such an irrefutable logical chain!

Chronic suicide!

The metaphor was heart-wrenching, yet it made this professional feel a chill run down his spine.

He felt as if he could see a future society where everyone alive was merely a group replacement for who they were after a certain age!

It took a full several dozen seconds before he recovered from this mental storm. "Please... please continue."

Jiang Zhe nodded slightly and continued, "The second level is the breaking of the thermodynamic equilibrium of the social structure."

"Once healthy immortality becomes widespread, it will lead to the most severe social stratification and the exhaustion of social mobility."

"There would be no necessity or space for newborns; where would their path for advancement be? Knowledge, wealth, and power would be indefinitely monopolized by the immortal elite. Innovation and change would stagnate, and civilization would fall into a highly developed 'zombie state'."

"And this!"

With a shift in his tone, he brought the topic into an even grander dimension.

"This directly relates to a cosmic-scale hypothesis, the fermi paradox—namely, 'Where is everybody?' It provides a much darker answer!"

"When a civilization becomes highly advanced and can satisfy all individual sensory and spiritual needs through immortality technology—whether through perfect biological modification or eternal virtual reality—the resources consumed would be astronomical."

"At that point, what would be the probability of them expanding beyond their galaxy?"

Speaking to this point, he held up one finger. "Less than ten percent!"

"Would the sensory experiences, infinite introspective possibilities, and self-actualization brought by immortality become a narcotic that stops intelligent civilizations from exploring interstellar space?"

"Perhaps the reason the stars are so silent isn't because civilizations die out early, but because after passing a certain technological singularity, they collectively choose to step into an immortal world; it could be virtual reality, or it could be a fixed dread."

"At that point, intelligent civilizations no longer look up at the stars, but instead indulge in the eternal dreams they've created for themselves."

"I have finished!"

As the series of arguments concluded, the living room fell into total silence.

On the other side of the screen, Professor Zhou was completely dumbfounded. The several cited arguments and follow-up questions he had prepared to showcase his knowledge were crushed into dust before Jiang Zhe's grand narrative, which progressed layer by layer from micro-biology to macro-sociology and then to the philosophy of cosmic civilizations.

In the livestream room, after a vacuum of dozens of seconds, the bullet comments exploded like a tsunami!

"I'm dead. Is this really just an entrance exam?"

"From telomerase and stem cells to the cosmic-scale fermi paradox, from cells to cosmic civilizations... does this knowledge structure and mental span actually exist in a real person?"

"Immortality is the cage of civilization—this viewpoint is so brutal, so dark, but it's also damnably logical!"

"So aliens might all be shut-ins playing ultimate-form immortality games at home, with no time to deal with us cosmic noobs?"

"I'm kneeling, completely kneeling. This isn't a professor testing a student anymore; it's God leaking the secrets of the universe to mortals, isn't it?"

"Bro, do you need any followers? Need someone to warm your bed? I can do anything, and I can be whatever gender you want!"

"..."

Inside the Huaqing University dormitory building.

Ouyang Baili let out a long sigh of relief. "How... how can his thinking be so integrated to this extent? Biology, sociology, cosmology, medicine—in his mind, these aren't separate disciplines at all, but foundational subjects that he has completely mastered."

Inside the Kyoto Family Quarters.

Professor Liu Guangyi was stunned for a long time before he finally managed to speak: "Old Zhou, oh Old Zhou. Now, you should finally understand exactly what kind of existence you are facing today, shouldn't you?"

"Even if you bundled everything you've learned and thought about in your entire life and threw it at him, it probably wouldn't even be worthy of being a footnote to Little Jiang's logic."

"Losing to a monster like this isn't shameful; it's not shameful at all."

On the screen.

Professor Zhou let out a deep breath. "Student J, in reality, your answer is truly eye-opening, yet the more I think about it, the more it terrifies me."

"Immortality might truly bring about the consequences you've described."

"Can we avoid this in the future?"

Jiang Zhe shook his head gently. "No."

"Not even a little bit?"

"No!"

In truth, Jiang Zhe and many people in his think tank from his previous life did not support immortality.

In the eyes and minds of such a think tank, death was not the end, so why be obsessed with pursuing immortality?

Even if immortality could be pursued, the [Fairness] he mentioned earlier to the female Chinese teacher would instantly peak.

At that point, the 'beasts of burden' who couldn't attain immortality would destroy the stability of the world and society, and ultimately, the world would still be held in the hands of a small minority.

Rather than that, it's better to just not have it. I die, you die, and he dies too—that is the ultimate fairness.

Even if there isn't much fairness in daily life, the fact that you, I, and he all have only one life is enough!

To maintain the stability of a world and a civilization, Jiang Zhe did not support immortality!!!

Seeing this, the big shot Wang Chongyang nodded with a solemn expression and then broke into a smile.

Celestial Master Zhang also nodded in admiration and agreement: "The creation of heaven and earth follows nature. People only want a longer lifespan because there are many things they haven't finished doing!"

"Sigh!"

Professor Zhou felt a bit lost. Since even this great god Student J said it wasn't possible, then it probably really won't be possible in the future.

"Alright, Student J." After Professor Zhou recovered, he continued his questioning: "Then, let us begin the second question, a question regarding ecology!"

Next, Professor Zhou asked about the impact of the butterfly effect on the ecological environment.

Jiang Zhe continued to speak eloquently, providing unique professional insights, and eventually passed with a perfect score. (Ps: 2,500 words of content regarding the butterfly effect's impact on ecology were cut here, as writing it out wouldn't have much meaning and would be like an academic report... it wasn't a good read, so it was deleted.)

The screen went dark.

A short while later, it lit up again.

This time, a new middle-aged female professor appeared, her face full of elegance and appreciation.

"Student J, I am Professor Fang, from Kyoto... I was once an Academician, now retired. I'm here now to select talent and contribute what I can."

"I watched your two previous debates. Your interdisciplinary abilities are very broad, even terrifying. University subjects are still too simple for you!"

"Next, I will present you with some advanced difficulties encountered at the Master's and Doctoral levels, as well as in laboratories, which also involve thought experiments. If you can solve these next few questions of mine, Auntie Fang will allow you to take all the Master's and Doctoral degrees."

Seeing this scene, both the viewers and the experts found it somewhat unbelievable.

They felt envious; how much training and knowledge review do regular Master's and Doctoral students have to go through to finally obtain a degree with great difficulty?

Jiang Zhe, on the other hand, was being given degrees just for answering a few questions???

"Isn't this a bit too hasty?"

"I admit the bro is awesome, but can he really be so awesome that answering a few questions gets him degrees?"

"Stop it, this is unfair..."

"To the person above, there's nothing unfair about it. If you were awesome enough to have Ouyang Baili and Guan Jingming publish papers for you and have universities worldwide begging to give you degrees, then you'd understand."

"Waaaah, then I'm not good enough. As expected of the bro, easily obtaining degrees that others can't!"

"Who is Auntie Fang?"

"She was an Academician at the Kyoto Aerospace University six years ago, but later took early retirement due to illness. She was responsible for aerospace technology at the research institute. I guess it'll be some questions related to future weapons?"

*Hiss* "What's going on? Does the bro know about weapons?"

"It might not necessarily be weapons. Anyway, who knows!"

"..."

There was not a trace of excitement on Jiang Zhe's face. To him, the science of this world was inherently at a level he could crush.

"That is fine, Auntie Fang."

Academician Fang blinked gently. "Your Auntie Fang's questions are very hard, so be careful!"

...